1.
GV Security Council.
0.03

2.
SV Israeli delegate Yehunda Blum takes seat.
0.12

3.
GV Syrian delegate El Fattal takes seat.
0.22

4.
SV Kuwaiti delegate Mohammaed Abdul-Hassen speaking in English.
1.16

5.
GV Security Council.
1.24

6.
SV Lebanese delegate Ghassan Tueni speaks in English.
1.42

7.
GV Security Council.
1.52

8.
SV Soviet delegate Oleg Troyanovsky speaks in Russian.
2.17

9.
SV Chinese delegate Ling Qing speaks in Chinese.
3.10

10.
SV Japanese delegate Masahiro Nisibori speaks in English.
3.42

11.
SV French delegate Jaques Leprette speaks in French.
4.08


SPEECH (TRANSCRIPT)



ABDUL-HASSAN: "When discussing the steps which should be taken to meet the urgent, dangerous situation created by the annexation of the occupied Syrian lands, we should not lose sight of the most disturbing element, namely, the general Israeli lawlessness, behaviour, and the prevalent Israeli feeling that such behaviour is sanctioned by the failure on the part of the international community to put an end to it. Yesterday, it was Jerusalem, today it is the Golan Heights, and tomorrow it will be the West Bank, and the Gaza strip, and God knows what it will be the next."



TUENI: "It is not the fate of Golan that we are debating today. We are debating the fate of peace, real peace, and he fate of security, real security governed by international law and universally accepted, and not subjected to the whim of Israeli logic and ambition. Thank you, sir."



NISIBORI: "Japan finds it extremely regrettable that Israel continue to carry out actions which ignore the voice of the international community as clearly expressed in various resolutions of the United Nations. I wish, in particular, to recall the Security Council resolution on such items as the question of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, the question of Jerusalem, and the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear facilities."





Initials JS





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: INTRODUCTION: After Israel announced the annexation of the Golan Heights on Monday (14 December) Syria, whose territory the Heights were until 1967, asked for an emergency debate at the United Nations Security council.The debate took place on Wednesday (16 December) and the only defence of Israel's action came from their own delegate, Yehuda Blum.

SYNOPSIS: When Mr.Blum arrived at the Council table, he told delegates that the annexation of the Golan Heights was simply a matter of regularising Israeli rule over the area.

But Arab delegates were not impressed by this argument, and the Kuwaiti representative, Mohammed Abdul-Hassan, place the Israeli action in the gravest perspective.

The Lebanese delegate, Ghassan Tueni, linked the fate of peace to the Israeli action.

The Soviet reaction to the Israeli act has been predictably hostile.The Soviet government newspaper Izvestia, said the Israelis had committed an act of impudent illegality.Oleg Troyanovsky, the Soviet delegate, said that the United States carried some responsibility.He said that Tel Aviv has admitted that American Presidents have appealed to Israel not to leave the Golan Heights.

China has said that the annexation of the Golan Heights was an act of Israeli expansionism which left the United States isolated.This was because the United States supported Israel while the rest of the world condemned it, according to the New China News Agency.Mr.Ling Qing, the Chinese delegate at the Security Council, said China regarded the new Israeli law as null and void, and China strongly condemned any unilateral step to change the status of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria and during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.Mr.Qing called upon the Security Council to condemn the Israelis.

CUE AT 3.05
The Japanese delegate, Masahiro Nisibori, also condemned the Tel Aviv government.

The French Minister of External Relations, Claude Cheysson, recently affirmed French support for Israel's Camp David agreement with Egypt, but the French delegate to the Security Council, Jacques Leprette, said Israel's Golan action was counter to international law.He said it damaged the chances for finding true peace, and was a totally invalid move.